About this WINE
Chateau Grand Moulin, Corbieres
The vast and sprawling Appellation of Corbières commands, not surprisingly, a huge diversity of styles. One of the most successful is based between the enclaves of Lézignan and Boutenac, their vines dissected by the main road from Carcassonne and Narbonne.
Here the gifted winemaker of Chateau Grand Moulin Corbieres, Jean-Noel Bousquet, exploits the clay sandstone soils, and indulges his passion for Syrah, Mourvèdre and Carignan. The resulting wines sing the personality of the region, but have an elegance and suppleness of texture which is a far cry from the tougher, more rustic wines of the past.
Southern Rhône Blend
The vast majority of wines from the Southern Rhône are blends. There are 5 main black varieties, although others are used and the most famous wine of the region, Châteauneuf du Pape, can be made from as many as 13 different varieties. Grenache is the most important grape in the southern Rhône - it contributes alcohol, warmth and gentle juicy fruit and is an ideal base wine in the blend. Plantings of Syrah in the southern Rhône have risen dramatically in the last decade and it is an increasingly important component in blends. It rarely attains the heights that it does in the North but adds colour, backbone, tannins and soft ripe fruit to the blend.
The much-maligned Carignan has been on the retreat recently but is still included in many blends - the best old vines can add colour, body and spicy fruits. Cinsault is also backtracking but, if yields are restricted, can produce moderately well-coloured wines adding pleasant-light fruit to red and rosé blends. Finally, Mourvèdre, a grape from Bandol on the Mediterranean coast, has recently become an increasingly significant component of Southern Rhône blends - it often struggles to ripen fully but can add acidity, ripe spicy berry fruits and hints of tobacco to blends.
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Description
The vast and sprawling Appellation of Corbières commands, not surprisingly, a huge diversity of styles. In 1948 it was the first region in the Languedoc to gain full Appellation Contrôlée status, but of late, seems to have fallen a little behind in terms of reputation.
The best enclaves are situated in Boutenac and Lézignan, on either side of the main road between Carcassonne and Narbonne and this is where we find this grandly named property, in point of fact one of the few in the Languedoc actually owning a Château, the envy of many a Bordelais. Grand Moulin has long been seen as one of the leading domains in Corbières.
Its perfect clay-sandstone soils are south east facing and located at altitude. Here Jean Noel Bousquet indulges his passion for Syrah, a relative newcomer in this region, blending it skillfully with the more traditional varieties, Carignan and Grenache. The precise make-up of the Vieilles Vignes is, appropriately enough, 40% Syrah, 40% Carignan and 20% Grenache, the vines suitably old to merit the nomenclature and the style of the wine appropriately supple and long in the mouth. Twelve month of barrique ageing has rounded out the 2010 with real aplomb.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
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